Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A

The ZX Spectrum +2A (1987) replaced the grey +2 the following year, moving the whole line into the black case Amstrad had just designed for the floppy-based +3. Under the hood it’s much closer to the +3 than to the grey +2 it visually succeeded: the discrete ULA and support logic are gone, replaced by the same custom Amstrad ASIC and a 64 KB ROM, and it inherits +3 BASIC — the disk commands just have nothing to talk to, since the +2A kept the +2’s built-in cassette Datacorder rather than a floppy drive.

Because the motherboard and ROM are a genuine departure from the grey +2 — not just a case reshuffle or regional variant — it gets its own GeekDex entry rather than sitting in the +2’s variants list. See also the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 and its own later PCB revision, the +2B.

Reference photo: Wikimedia Commons (“Spectrum 128-2 (retouched).jpg” by Doppelgangland), Public Domain. Depicts the black-case +2/+2A/+3 shell — the +2A and +2B are externally identical, so this photo is reused on both entries.